New Saudi King Named In 9/11 Suits

Mideast: President Obama should think before bowing to Saudi Arabia's new king in his Tuesday visit. King Salman has a history of funding al-Qaida, and his son has been accused of knowing in advance about the 9/11 attacks.

When it comes to jihadism, Salman bin Abdulaziz al Saud is more of a hardliner than his older brother, King Abdullah, who died last week of a lung infection. As such, any commitment he makes to helping the U.S. destroy al-Qaida and Islamic State terrorists should be viewed with great suspicion.

The 79-year-old Salman once ran a Saudi charity tied to al-Qaida and has been named a defendant in two lawsuits accusing the Saudi royal family of helping the 9/11 terrorists, one of which the U.S. Supreme Court recently let move forward after years of being blocked by the State Department and the well-funded Saudi lobby.

Plaintiffs have provided an enormous amount of material to source their accusations against Salman. Here's why his ascension to the throne is not good news, especially as the terrorism threat grows:

 Salman once headed the Saudi High Commission for Relief to Bosnia and Herzegovina, which served as a key charitable front for al-Qaida in the Balkans.

 According to a United Nations-sponsored investigation, Salman in the 1990s transferred more than $120 million from commission accounts under his control — as well as his own personal accounts — to the Third World Relief Agency, another al-Qaida front and the main pipeline for illegal weapons shipments to al-Qaida fighters in the Balkans.

 A U.N. audit found that the money was transferred following meetings with Salman, transfers that had no legitimate "humanitarian" purpose.

 Former CIA officer Robert Baer has reported that an international raid of Saudi High Commission offices found evidence of terrorist plots against America.

 Baer also revealed that Salman "personally approved" distribution of funds from the International Islamic Relief Organization, which also has provided material support to al-Qaida.

 Salman works closely with Saudi clerics Saleh al-Moghamsy, a radical anti-Semite, and Safar Hawali, a one-time mentor of Osama bin Laden, according to the Washington Free Beacon.

 In "Why America Slept," author Gerald Posner claimed that Salman's son Ahmed bin Salman also had ties to al-Qaida and even advance knowledge of the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks.

Riyadh insists it's a key ally in the war on terror. But the Gulf Institute provides evidence of Saudi complicity in recent international terrorism, including the government's arming and funding of Saudi citizens travelling to fight with the Sunni insurgencies in Iraq and Syria. We are now witnessing, in the rise of IS, the blowback from the kingdom's jihadi sponsorship in the region.

More, the institute maintains that one of the 9/11 recruiters still lives in Saudi Arabia on the largesse of the Saudi king.

While Abdullah may be dead, allegations that members of the Saudi royal family — including his successor — played a role in the 9/11 attacks are still alive.

Instead of flying to his palace to hug, kiss and bow to this long-time "individual patron of al-Qaida" posing as a "moderate" reformer, Obama should instead declassify the 28 pages tying Saudi government officials to 9/11 hijackers.

Our government must stop covering up Saudi complicity in terrorism and end this unholy alliance.

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